Monster
by Watcher321
Summary: Zane is back and the Never-Realm is free, but tensions are high as the Ninja try to fix the unfixable. There are signs of old skills returning, and now that Vex has escaped they'll need them to even hope to catch the slippery criminal. (Spoilers for Season 11 Finale)
1. Chapter 1

Akita had thought many things of Lloyd, few of them nice. For one, he talked _far_ too much, and honestly, _get over_ Harumi already! It was infuriating. Then, of course, was his green power. Akita never questioned him about it, and she didn't care to. As a formling she was familiar with magical people, but Lloyd's power had always seemed… lackluster.

For one, all it seemed to do was create light and heal metal. Akita had seen the occasional blast to the face when she and Lloyd had come upon trouble in their journey, but other than creating a distraction it was _useless_ in combat.

She'd thought him soft, with how highly he spoke of Ninjago. _He_ hadn't spent decades wandering alone, fighting tooth and claw to survive, to avenge. _He_ was not prepared for the cold, was soft and weak against the elements. _He_ was no survivor.

Akita had thought wrong.

At the mercy of the Ice Emperor, all Akita could think was how she'd failed Kataru. She was the last of the formlings, and she was not strong enough to avenge her people.

Then Lloyd had entered.

"It's time we finished this, Zane!" He growled, his tone a new, cold note that Akita had not heard him use. Then, his words sank in.

"_Zane?"_ She gasped.

"My name… is not… Zane!" The Emperor roared, and Lloyd ripped off his hood, stalking past Akita without a glance. It occurred to her that Lloyd had not acknowledged her presence.

"Yes, it is!" Lloyd snarled, "and you're going to remember it if I have to knock it into your thick Nindroid skull!"

Slowly, like the frost creeping up from her frozen hand, the pieces settled together in Akita's mind. "You… _know_ the Emperor?" She whispered.

"He's not an emperor!" Lloyd turned to her, his eyes blazing. "He'd my friend! _He's_ the one I'm here to rescue!"

Akita looked at the Emperor with eyes twice as hateful. The destroyer of their land, the _murderer of her brother,_ was a _stranger!_ The face from the picture record, the metallic skin of the man who'd left the mech that Lloyd had fixed, came back to her.

"_I am Zane, Master of Ice, son of Dr. Julien…"_

"It's hard to explain," Lloyd said, "but I can't let you hurt him!"

Akita's rage suddenly boiled over. She _knew_ she couldn't trust Lloyd, the stranger, the soft, weak-hearted, spineless wanderer, who would _defend her brother's murderer!_

"I…" Akita's iced hand trembled, and she felt the dagger locked inside the block shift, "...am not _yours to command!_" She roared, and with a _CRACK_ she broke free and threw herself at the Emperor.

The next few moments were a blur, a rage, a wrestle against Lloyd as he tried to stop _what she must do,_ and it only broke when Lloyd's "friend" caught him from behind and sent him sprawling with his scepter.

"There is NO ZANE!" The Emperor roared in a grating voice, catching Akita in her lunge and throwing her back with ease. Akita had only managed to sit back up when she saw the cold beam aimed at her.

"No!" Lloyd cried, and suddenly there was a green vortex blocking Akita's demise. _What?_ Lloyd had never shown her this! When the stream of ice let up Lloyd appeared, spinning out of the vortex, toward the Ice Emperor, and Akita realised that Lloyd the weak, the soft-hearted, helpless without his mech-shaped crutch, was a _warrior!_

She scrambled to her feet, knife ready, but already there was no way for Akita to enter the battle and seek her revenge. Lloyd and the Emperor were blazing whirlwinds across the throne room, and when they came from their respective elemental vortexes she saw Lloyd, the stranger, fight with skill she had not believed he had, despite all his stories of "saving the world." He moved with precision, calculation, and the Emperor matched him step for step.

It suddenly occurred to Akita that she could very well die fighting either of them. Even opposed they moved with the fluid, acrobatic grace of warriors who had fought their whole lives together. She could not keep up.

Then Lloyd ran up one of the pillars, which shouldn't have been possible, chased by the Emperor's deadly ice. He vaulted, and Akita heard "wake up Zane," before Lloyd lost the fight. "Lloyd!" She cried as he was enveloped up to the neck in ice.

_Now._ The Emperor cackled over his immobilized victim, a sight which brought a red-filled haze to Akita's mind. Even if Lloyd had betrayed her, for their journey they had been friends, and for that reason she would spare him the final blow. _The Emperor is mine._

She aimed, threw her knife, and the last thing Akita saw was the blinding blue as cold enveloped her.


	2. Chapter 2

"_Akita!"_ The Emperor looked on coldly, his eyes watching the prisoner in the ice block for any sign of escape. _The stranger in green,_ Vex's voice supplied. The Emperor twirled his scepter, his prize, his jewel. Vex had warned that this stranger would come to take it from him, and the Emperor could not allow that. He approached with the speared tip raised toward the rebel.

There is was again. A flash, the way the prisoner's hair, frozen in sweat, fell as he turned his head to face the approaching Emperor. The Emperor knew it, felt he had known it for a long time, but he could not recall meeting the stranger in any of the decades since Vex had woken him. The stranger must, therefore, have lied.

That still didn't explain the ache in his chest, the horrible, twisting knot, when the stranger's brow crumpled, anguished green eyes pleading as he said, "Zane, please…"

More lies.

"I told you, there is NO ZANE!" The Emperor roared, infuriated by the _audacity_ _of this_ _rebel_ to try and perpetuate this _foolish_ lie!

So why did it feel like the truest thing he'd heard in decades?

"Do it, Master!" Yes, Vex. Vex could explain this feeling. Vex would tell him why the doubt, the absolute sense of _wrong_ that he'd felt ever since he'd picked up the scepter reared its head especially high at just the sight of this stranger.

"Finish it!" The Emperor could hear the grin in Vex's voice; of course, he wanted to see the scepter safe again, just as the Emperor did.

Yet the Emperor hesitated. There would be questions even Vex could not answer, and the Emperor needed the stranger in green alive to answer them.

That was what he told himself, but the sense of _wrong_, the fearful, sinking feeling that if he took another step he may never return, the feeling that he'd come closer and closer to the edge of a cliff each passing year…

"I'll do it." Vex grumbled, and the Emperor stood back, listlessly watching as Vex began to taunt the rebel stranger. With a maniacal grin, he approached. "Some savior you are. You couldn't defeat the Emperor, you couldn't _protect_ your friends…"

"_Protect?"_ The Emperor said aloud. That word… there was so much packed inside that one little word. Seven letters. Two syllables. Yet he felt it meant so much more than that… almost like a backup hard drive was being booted… whatever that was.

"_Protect those… who cannot protect themselves."_ The Emperor realized aloud, and some of the ice samurai gave him strange looks.

Then the Emperor was thrown under.

* * *

A serpentine queen with a staff of fire, just like his own scepter. _Aspheera._ She was invading someplace important… someplace like _home._ He saw the stranger in green, _his friend,_ and an entire team of people the Emperor felt he loved more than anything in the world.

Well, except for one thing…

"_What does ZANE stand for?"_

"_I stand for peace, honor, and courage in the face of battle."_

"_Support me friends, one last time!"_

"_I am Zane, a nindroid."_

"_I KNOW who I am!"_

No. No. NO!

LLOYD!

_What have I done?_ Zane despaired, but no time for that now. He had a friend to save.

* * *

"Huh?" Vex looked to the Emperor in confusion as his spear was knocked aside, and The Ice Emperor remembered one last thing.

"_This is the last recording of Zane, Master of Ice, son of Dr. Julien. I was built to protect those who cannot protect themselves…"_

He knew now. He knew exactly what had happened. In that moment the Emperor died, and Zane ripped off the mask. "Vex!" He shouted, "DON'T," and this, in his hand, he knew what this was. "_The scroll corrupts the power of anyone who holds it."_ Wu had been all too right, and Zane knew what he must do.

With a cry, Zane leaped into the air and with all his considerable strength _smashed_ the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu on the ground. It vanished in an explosion of its own power, and the shockwave ripped the sheets of ice from the palace walls.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello all! Thanks so much to the people following this; I've spent a little time laying out the groundwork, and now that I'm not ripping directly off the show things will get good. ;) The fifth chapter of Fight or Flight will be uploaded next, and then we'll be right back here!

* * *

_Is this it?_ Grimfax thought as his hands were cuffed. After all their newfound hope, was it going to end like this again? Except worse, locked for eternity in an icy cell.

Suddenly a loud _SMASH_ ripped through the air, and the shockwave following soon after swept Grimfax and his guards off their feet. As he scrambled back up, Grimfax suddenly realized that his chains of ice were gone, and his hands, _his HANDS!_ They were warm, and soft, and he caressed a palm in disbelief. Was this real?

"This way!" An unfamiliar voice rang through the miraculously ice-free palace halls, along with the drumming of feet. A group of strangers rounded the corner at full speed, all dressed in unique colors, the same as the green stranger Vex had been so obsessed with. A massive yeti followed close behind, and Grimfax was ready to call an alarm to save them when they all skidded to a halt in front of him. The yeti stopped obediently in the back, and none of them paid it any mind.

"Lloyd?" A woman dressed in gray and blue asked breathlessly. Grimfax could only assume she was talking about the green stranger, so he pointed toward the throne room, and the motley crowd was off again.

_The Emperor._ Just now, it occurred to Grimfax what the melting ice meant. He waved a summons to the guards, glad to see their eyes clear and hypnosis-free, and ran for the throne room.

He arrived in time to find Vex immobilized up to his neck in ice, and Kataru also free and embracing someone who must have been his sister. Grimfax had heard the formling's sad tale in the cold loneliness of the dungeons, and was gratified to see them reunited.

Nearby were the strangers, all clustered around in a group, cheering. Grimfax approached cautiously. Had Lloyd, the one in green, told the truth? Had the Emperor once been a good man?

Was he now?

As Grimfax approached the huddle broke, and standing in the center was the man who'd entered this very room alongside Vex all those years ago. Grimfax held his breath.

"Lloyd!" The former Emperor looked distraught, grabbing the green ninja by the shoulders. "What have I done?" He cried.

"Hey, hey, it's okay Zane," Lloyd said, grabbing his hands and holding them, "it's over. You're free. It's okay."

"No!" The Emp-no, Zane, shook his head. "No, it's not okay!" He pulled his hands from Lloyd's grasp. "I'm a monster! I was built to protect, not destroy!"

"No!" One of the strangers, dressed in red, took Zane's shoulder. "Don't you _ever_ talk like that, Zane! You're _not_ a monster." He shouted, shaking him.

"You don't understand!" Zane was trembling, ready to bolt, "you don't know what I've done!" He began to pace. "I need to go somewhere far away, a-a prison-"

"HEY!" The stranger dressed all in blue stalked up to his face and began yelling. "We've already lost you twice, tin head! Don't you DARE leave us again!"

"I-I need to think," Zane gasped, shaking, and he ran.

"Zane!" Lloyd began to follow, but the stranger in red caught his arm.

"Let me talk to him," the red stranger said, "I'll make sure he comes back." Grimfax could see the exchange on their faces, the fear, before Lloyd slumped and nodded glumly, allowing the red stranger to take up the chase.

It was then they turned to see Grimfax standing a little ways off, surrounded by palace guards. Every one of the strangers stopped, glancing at one another with worry on their faces.

"Did he just see all that?" The one in black asked.

"Totally," answered the woman in gray. The yeti and stranger in blue both grunted their agreement. Lloyd was the one to immediately step forward, bowing as the group of odd people lined up behind him, and bowed as well. Grimfax found himself impressed by their coordination.

"Friend," Lloyd said, coming out of the bow, "we haven't properly introduced ourselves. I am Lloyd, a ninja, and this," he swept his arm out, "is my team."

"Welcome, travellers," Grimfax answered. "I am the Emperor in this palace," he noted the exchange of guilty glances on the faces of the strangers, "please follow me, I wish to speak with you in private." When he turned to lead the way he was pleased to find his own guard had already fallen into line in response to the stranger's-the ninja's-display.

As the yeti moved to follow two of Grimfax's guards blocked its path, clearly uncertain what to do about the normally elusive monster. The stranger in black turned and noticed what was going on.

"It's okay, Crag," he said, and waved in Vex's direction, "keep an eye on him, will ya?" The yeti grinned and thumped its chest, bellowing. The black ninja gave it a salute, before following again. Grimfax found his heart shrinking in worry; if these people could command dragons, nevermind yetis, what did that mean for his kingdom?

"My Lord!" Grimfax's thoughts were broken when he turned to see the wolf formling. Her brother Kataru was struggling to hold her back with a frightened look on his face.

"Please, my Lord," she wrested her arm free from Kataru's hold, "have mercy on them." Grimfax smiled at her gently. Whatever his reservations about the strangers, he would not pick his battles recklessly; and it seemed they had already made an impression.

"I have no ill will to our guests," he said, "it is thanks to them we are free." With a sweeping gesture he turned again. Emperor Grimfax found it a surreal feeling, his guard marching in time with his step in halls that just hours before had been ice cold and bereft of hope.

He led them to the library which, to Grimfax's delight, was just as he'd left it. Gesturing for the strangers to take a seat at a long wooden table, he stood before them, his guard fanning out in a semicircle. He could see his men exchanging slight glances and eyebrow gestures with one another. They, too, could barely believe it was over, or seemed to be.

"Welcome, strangers," Grimfax bowed to what was now a group of four: Lloyd, the stranger in green; the stranger in black; in gray; and in blue. "You have freed us from decades of cold imprisonment. You have our gratitude."

The four strangers exchanged a series of uncertain glances, before Lloyd stood from his chair and bowed back. "You are generous, your majesty, but don't thank us."

"I understand," Grimfax replied. "Your friend was the one to bring about our eternal winter, the Ice Emperor," he noticed the visible flinch, "however, I believe in the individual's actions, and you have done a great thing for our people."

"Your majesty, please, forgive Zane," Lloyd pleaded. "He's a good person, I know his recent actions don't seem like it, but he's been our friend for many years-"

"You told me this in the dungeon just hours ago." Grimfax countered, "for the sake of my people I believed you then." Grabbing the back of the chair in front of him, he sat down across from the strangers. "So convince me now."

* * *

It took some creative sleuthing (one of Kai's self-proclaimed strengths,) but eventually Kai found Zane high on the roof of the palace, in sunshine apparently not seen for decades. When he caught sight of him, sitting hunched over on the edge of the roof, he clasped his hands behind his back and stood, waiting.

"I'm not going back." Zane said finally, his shoulders drawing together like he was hugging his knees.

"To the others, or to Ninjago?" Kai asked. At this Zane shrank, turning his head to hide though Kai couldn't see his face to begin with.

"Both." The answer came quietly.

Kai bit his lip, unsure how to continue. If it were up to him, he would take the frustrated, boiling anger in his chest and use it to drag Zane back by force, but now wasn't the time to press. That much was obvious; so he remained silent.

"I can't run from this, Kai!" Zane finally burst out. "I've done too much! There's no fixing this, and…" Zane's voice trembled. "I don't think it should be fixed."

"Well, I don't know what you're seeing, but the sun's awfully bright today." Kai observed, gazing nonchalantly over the mountainous vista.

"That's not what I meant!" Zane cried, burying his face in his knees. "I'm _dangerous,_ Kai. I need to go away, so this will never happen again."

Kai was taken aback, but he stepped carefully over the shingles and sat down next to his distraught friend.

"What was so dangerous about the man who saved our lives in the Nindroid crisis?" He asked.

"That's the thing," Zane whispered, "I'm not a man, Kai, and the nindroids…" He trailed off, and Kai stared at him expectantly. The ice ninja cracked a small smile, his eyes glistening as he glanced at his brother. "You're not going away, are you."

"It took you all our adventures to figure that out?" Kai laughed, but he quickly cut himself off when Zane's mood turned sober again. They stayed silent for many minutes, until…

"When… when I was young," Zane began tentatively, hesitantly, "I went to the city with my father… and found an old VHS in a dumpster."


End file.
